One village in South 24-Parganas has seven of its residents dead in the triple train tragedy in Odisha’s Balasore. Four villagers are still missing.
As many as 23 people from villages in Kakdwip block in South 24-Parganas were on the Coromandel Express that met with the accident on June 2, according to a list with the state administration. The villagers were on their way to Chennai to work at construction sites.
Till now, eight from the block are dead and four are still missing. The rest are recuperating from their injuries.
The triple train crash — involving the Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Express and a goods train — left 292 dead and over 1,000 injured.
Among the eight dead, seven are from Madhusudanpur 64 Bari, Ramtanunagar village, in Kakdwip, according to the block administration sources. All four who are still missing are from the same village.
“Our neighbourhood has become like a crematorium where you can only hear women and children cry in their homes,” said Saidul Seikh, father of Moyzuddin Seikh, who died in the train crash.
“This time, the Id celebrations were muted in our village. The tragedy and whether the missing villagers could be traced are the only topics of conversation. Some of the survivors have almost become crippled and would not be able to work anymore,” said Saidul.
Moyzuddin, 31, was a mason.
On June 3, his family received a call from his phone. “An unknown person called us to say that Moyzuddin was critically injured. He was still in his senses and requested that person to make the call,” his father recounted.
The youth was taken to hospital, where he was declared dead.
“We had rushed to the hospital but my son had been dead by then,” said Saidul. Moyzuddin, the eldest of Saidul’s three sons, left behind his wife, two sons and a daughter.
Moyzuddin’s family has received around Rs 17 lakh in compensation from the railways and the Bengal and Odisha governments.
“The state government has given home guard’s job to his wife. She joined duty on June 22,” said Saidul. “The loss is irreparable.”
For family members of those who are missing, the wait is unbearable.
Among the missing is Samsul Huda Seikh, 30, a mason from Madhusudanpur 64 Bari, Ramtanunagar village.
His brother Nurul Seikh visited hospitals across Odisha in phases in search of Samsul.
“I gave my blood sample for a DNA test soon after the accident. But we are yet to hear anything from the authorities,” Nurul said on Wednesday.
Immediately after the accident, Nurul and others from the village went to Odisha in search of their family members.
“I had stayed there for more than a week but could not find my brother,” said Nurul. He went there twice later, staying for three days each time but returned empty-handed. He returned home from his last trip to Odisha on July 2.
“On the last two occasions, news had come to our village that there was a DNA match for one of those who were on the train. I went with their family members and other villagers hoping that my brother would also be traced. But all our hopes were dashed,” he said.
Samsul has a wife, a son and a daughter. He would earn around Rs 12,000 a month working as a mason. He would work six months outside Bengal, the brother said.
“This time Samsul had said since there was no work here, he would join others from the village to go to Chennai,” said Nurul.
The Telegraph reported on Wednesday on the plight of another person from the same village, Ibrahim Sk, who fractured both his arms in the accident and is unsure when, or whether at all, he would be able to resume work.
Ibrahim’s both arms are in slings and he is unable to do any work on his own.
“We have arranged for vehicles for the family members to go to Odisha,” said an official in the South 24-Parganas district administration. Kakdwip BDO Wrick Goswami is overseeing the process, the official said.